Showing results by author "Belva Plain" in All Categories

Belva Plain captured readers' hearts with her first novel, Evergreen, which Delacorte published more than 30 years ago. It topped the New York Times best-seller list for 41 weeks and aired as an NBC-TV miniseries. In total, more than 20 of her books have been New York Times best sellers. Today 30 million copies of her books are in print.

The novel centers around Iris, the daughter of the beautiful, passionate Anna from a secret love affair with Paul Werner. During the turbulent 1960s, Iris and Theo's fragile marriage begins to falter, while their son, Steve, a student at a midwestern university, comes under the sway of the charismatic and radical son of Paul Werner's niece, Meg.

Though Iris Stern considers herself a modern woman, with a successful academic career and a happy marriage, she still holds steadfast to her old-fashioned sensibilities. But as the mother of three adult children, each with their own lives and burdens to bear, she often finds those sensibilities called into question when confronted with the choices her children have made. Through separations and reunions, the changes we cannot avoid and the love that sustains, Iris will weather whatever lies ahead with a faith that cannot be shaken.

Across a teeming canvas of history, through world wars and the close of a century, The Sight of the Stars tells a deeply affecting story of family and forgiveness, guilt and redemption. Brimming with the emotional depth and moral complexity we have come to expect from this incomparable storyteller, The Sight of the Stars is about what happens when we dare to dream, and the moments that can change families forever.

Cassie Wright never saw it coming. As owner of Wright Glassworks, the foremost company in a thriving New England town, Cassie’s life was quiet, focused on her work and home…until a tragic accident turns her carefully ordered world upside down. For there is a surviving child to think about—and Cassie must take in one-year-old Gwen, who has no one else to care for her. As the years pass, Cassie will raise Gwen as her own, and a little girl who lost everything will flourish in a world of privilege and opportunity.

It is the spring of 1968 when Donald Wolfe, a young graduate of a Midwestern law school, arrives in New York. Filled with ambition and idealism, he is dazzled not only by the big city, but by the vivacious, restless Lillian, whom he marries in the heat of infatuation. Surely theirs is no marriage made in heaven, but they have a child, Tina, and she is the love of Donald’s heart. For her he would give up everything - his home, his distinguished career, and his freedom. When his flawed marriage begins to fail, a choice must be made.

Margaret and Adam Crane seem to have a near perfect life--she's a teacher, he's a computer executive, and together they are lovingly raising their own children and Margaret's orphaned niece. Then one day the phone rings--and suddenly everything changes forever as a woman from Adam's university days reappears in his life, and an old affair re-ignites

Beginning in 1920 and paralleling Hitler’s rise to power, this compelling story revolves around wealthy Paul Werner and interweaves a myriad of other characters as he quests for ultimate happiness and contentment. You will meet an unforgettable American family as they struggle with birth, death, murder, illicit passion, and great tragedy – and one man who must fight his own war against evil. Belva Plain pulls together the many life-threads entwined with Werner's to form a magnificent tapestry.

It is the spring of 1968 when Donald Wolfe, a young graduate of a Midwestern law school, arrives in New York. Filled with ambition and idealism, he is dazzled not only by the big city but by the vivacious, restless Lillian, whom he marries in the heat of infatuation. Surely theirs is no marriage made in heaven, but they have a child, Tina, and she is the love of Donald’s heart. For her he would give up everything - his home, his distinguished career, and his freedom. When his flawed marriage begins to fail, a choice must be made.

Robb MacDaniel, a schoolteacher with noble intentions, comes into a little money, enabling him to go to law school. Upon graduation, he goes to work for a fine, honorable firm, and marries the daughter of the senior partner, leaving behind the hometown girl he had planned to wed. From then on, his career brings enormous successes but then takes a shocking turn that changes his life, the life of his family, and reverberates into the next generation.

At 36, Jennie Rakowsky's dreams were coming true. She was about to marry a wonderful man, her career as a lawyer was skyrocketing, and she had never been more beautiful. And then the secret she had hidden for 19 years threatened to shatter it all.

They met at school and have been inseparable ever since: Cecile, confident, elegant daughter of privilege; Norma, extraordinarily gifted and sadly troubled; and beautiful, ambitious Amanda, determined to rise above her humble Southern beginnings. Two are married. One despairs of ever finding love. Three women. Leading their busy adult lives. Yet first and always: friends. Then something unexpected happens that forever alters their long, complicated friendship.

New York Times bestselling author Belva Plain beguiles us once again with a novel that explores the bonds that sustain families—and the lies that can shatter them forever. Sweeping through the pivotal events of twentieth-century America, The Sight of the Stars chronicles four generations of one remarkable family as they journey through years of love, loss, sacrifice, and unimaginable betrayal.

It began almost like a fairy tale. Plain Jane and Prince Charming met in college, fell in love, and were married soon after graduation. She shelved her dreams of a career as a painter to help him through medical school and to be the perfect doctor's wife. He became a successful plastic surgeon and they had two beautiful children. But real life is no fairy tale.

Margaret and Adam Crane are happy with their professional careers, their three young children, and their home. But when a woman from Adam's past suddenly appears, she ignites desires that threaten to consume the very fabric of his marriage. In the resulting emotional and financial chaos, Margaret and the children must resist ending up as the casualties of Adam’s adultery.

Looking Back follows the intertwined lives of three bright young women. Cecile is a beautiful child of privilege; Amanda is ambitious but poor; Norma is the academic star, yet the least self-assured. They are inseparable at college. And when the three classmates graduate and move into careers and marriage, they remain close. But, secretly, one of them will begin a relationship that undermines their trust and alters the course of each life it touches.

Cassie Wright never saw it coming. As owner of Wright Glassworks, the foremost company in a thriving New England town, Cassie's life was quiet, focused on her work and home until a tragic accident turns her carefully ordered world upside down. For there is a surviving child to think about, and Cassie must take in one-year-old Gwen, who has no one else to care for her. As the years pass, Cassie will raise Gwen as her own, and a little girl who lost everything will flourish in a world of privilege and opportunity.